


Orange You Glad I Didn't Call You Nunya?

by ABecker



Category: Champions (Comics), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: M/M, More characters to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-10 03:16:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17418008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ABecker/pseuds/ABecker
Summary: "Why didn't you tell me you're gay?""Oh, when was I supposed to do that? When we were fighting the giant purple alien or when you busted into my workplace?"In which Robbie has a crush and Can't Handle It.





	1. Burnout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this series is going to start in the direct aftermath of the 2016 ghost rider series and continue through the current Avengers run
> 
> Chapter Trigger Warnings: Mentions of Physical abuse, Mental Illness, Homophobia

Robbie closed the door to the townhouse behind himself, sparing a couple of breaths to set himself back into the normalcy of his real life. No more Spider-People, X-Men, Hulks, or giant evil aliens. Just himself and his brother, who was now beaming up from the short table with a hot plate on it proudly. No more Leyenda, burning skin and surging power, just plain Robbie. Robbie whose only duty was to show up on time for school, go to work, and most importantly, take care of his brother. Gabe had recovered from the trauma of being possessed by Eli mentally and emotionally, his development in those areas which had been stalling immediately jumped back to be on pace. He could now do most tasks on his own if he had the accessibility needed of his physical state, which is why Gabe, in his eternal goodness, begged his brother to start teaching him how to cook, and even if it wasn't much, it was one thing that Gabe took care of pretty regularly now, and it was one thing off his plate.

"Did you make it safe home on the bus today?"

"Yeah, but you missed it! There was a huge fight outside! With Leyenda and the Hulk and a huge purple thing! It was just like the comics!"

"Gabe, you know I don't like you obsessing over all that Leyenda stuff. Real life hero stuff can get scary." Robbie got a couple of bowls out of the cabinet along with some forks and set the table, keeping mind to keep all the mess away from Gabe's comics and action heroes. "Remember your crash?" Robbie did. The sheer  _horror_ of seeing glass embedded into his arms, how deep it was, the stitches and the emergency medical bills...

"Yeah, but that was a year ago, and Leyenda saved me. It's why he's so great!"

"I know you think he's great but, next time something with him happens here, you have to call Alejo and stay with his grandkids or if the street's busy, you block the door and turn off the lights. You know the rules."

There was a mumbled acknowledgement, just like there always was. Robbie hated quashing Gabe's enthusiasm like that, but he couldn't stand the thought of his brother being anywhere near in the line of fire again. Especially because some stupid guy brought the fight to his neighborhood.

Some stupid... stupidly hot guy.

Gabe's bedtime was at about nine, and things may change, but Gabe needing to be tucked in by Robbie stayed the same. So did the Ninja  Wolf night light and the comic sitting on the nightstand he knew he'd turn the lamp on to read the second Robbie went into his own room. It was the little things like that that really made everything worth it. No, he wasn't technically a parent, but he'd taken on the role of father for as long as Gabe had been alive. The house was quiet, save for the orange tabby he'd rescued, who made a spot for himself squarely on Robbie's chest. 

Amadeus, right? His name was Amadeus? The sarcastic annoying one with a  _dreamy_ smile? Ugh, Christ. He hated this. Robbie had known he's attracted to men for a long time. It wasn't even that he enjoyed particularly feminine things, though he knew there wasn't anything wrong with that. He remembered one foster home, when he was about eleven, when he and another boy there his age got incredibly close, climaxing in a kiss. His first kiss, and still, his only real kiss. The father had checked on them, caught them, and threw Robbie out in a fury, spouting names in English and Spanish that were the first time he were hearing them hurled at him, but not the last. Something about him... the other boys in his classes always picked up on. A general disinterest in getting a girlfriend but forming friendships with his foster sisters. He knew something was wrong but he never really knew what, but when he left the system and took Gabe with him, there was a new armor formed. First the stone cold loner, and it worked for a while, but now that he was an adult he needed a new approach which pretty much matched the rise in confidence that came with Eli: the notorious flirt. 

It was an easy bluff to call. Lisa did it plenty. She, admittedly, played the game better than him. And by all means, she was a nice girl. Pretty, smart, willing to make every accommodation for Gabe, but when she realized things weren't going to get further than a high school flirtation, she called things pretty easily. It took hours of begging to convince her not to tell anyone, even her friends. But Robbie had never really felt much of  _anything_ romantic, even approaching a crush, for a guy. Until Amadeus. 

He took out his phone, knowing he'd probably regret it, only to find that he'd hacked his phone and the number was already programmed in.

_It's Robbie. Still in town?_


	2. Don't Rub it In

Amadeus was no stranger to travel at this point. Bouncing around the country was all part of the day job of the Totally Awesome Hulk (insert exasperated sigh from Maddy here). But at this point? Amadeus  _deserved_ some weekend alone time. Maybe a little more time in the idyllic city of Los Angeles to study the alien some more and ease some of the mounting tension with his sister. After all, he wasn't stupid. He's the ninth-smartest person in the world, even, and no, he didn't care how many times he said it, he would still rub the fact in the face of anyone who would listen. The problem was, the pool of those people who  _would_ listen seemed to be getting smaller by the day. And maybe some alone time with nothing to talk to but a thumb-sized alien could shut him up a little. He was lounging around in the SHIELD branch when his phone buzzed.

_It's Robbie. Still in town?_

_Yeah I'm staying on Nunya._

_Haha. Very funny. Lau and Silk already bailed.  
Wanna hang out?_

_Oh two guys hanging out in WeHo. That's not weird._

_Shut up. Do you want to hang out or not?_

_Fine. But I expect a corsage._

_Still not a date, Cho._

_You say that now. Text me when the chariot arrives ;)_

It wasn't long before Amadeus heard Robbie lay on the horn from the outside. Of course. That car was magic. It was stupid fast. Magic fast. It  _broke the metric for horsepower_. In one way, it was impressive. In another, it bothered him because nothing irritated a scientist more than when 'magic' could be offered as a viable, one-word descriptor. Magic, like a bunny pulled out of a hat, a woman being sawed in half and magically reunited. The term had always struck him as chintzy because magic was really another word for 'con'. Before he'd gotten involved in all the superhero stuff, at least. At the age of 19, Amadeus was one of the top ten smartest people in the planet. He could explain relativity and the inevitable heat death of the universe, the 'Fermi paradox' believed before first contact was made. He could explain the adaptable DNA of the purple goo now in an isolation chamber, but how was he supposed to take the existence of a man whose skin melted from bone, whose car broke physics, who could kick him in the face and only think about how  _interesting_ he was, and how  _handsome_ he was while throwing up hellfire. 

Amadeus left the safety of the SHIELD bunker and entered Robbie's car, and in 'normal' mode it was considerably different than what he'd expect. Robbie is a mechanic. He'd expect his car interior to smell like orange-scented hand cleaner and oil, or maybe like the inside of Canelo's shop. But it was surprisingly different. It smelled more like vanilla oil put in a diffuser on the dash than the rough man Robbie seemed to be. Maybe it was Robbie flexing. "I'm so manly I can make my car smell like vanilla and you'd still want to fuck me."

Wait, where did  _that_ thought come from?

"So, do you have any plans for tonight, or did you just distract me from important research to dick around in LA?" Okay, maybe that came off a little harsher than Amadeus tried to make it. This  _was_ supposed to be a bit of a vacation, after all, and he just started off by being a dick to the only guy giving him something to do while he slowly died of boredom looking at a silent puddle of purple goo. All he'd gotten from  _that_ was that it was carbon-based and used a double helical mode of storing genetic data. 

"Yeah. There's a race in Hollywood tonight. I'm not competing, but it's always a good time watching." The car wasn't speeding off the same way it had to get there, sitting at a comfortable 65 mph. It was strange, riding in a car with Robbie. He was so obviously comfortable driving through the curves at the speed, and it was triggering the same niggling annoyance about "magic". 

"Oh, I don't get to be part of the action?" The same cocky cadence filled his voice, with a tinge of interest. This was some  _Fast and Furious_ shit. He'd never really seen this side of city life and city illicit activity before. Sure, he was used to gangsters and drug running, but street racing, and seeing it close to the sidelines? He had to admit his heart was beating faster at the thought.

Robbie shook his head. "Pot's too big. Besides, one of the guys racing doesn't like to play fair. Last I raced him, I would've had to replace a tire, a door, and a mirror." There was something else that he couldn't put his finger on, but let it slide. Robbie obviously wasn't the type to open up to people, and he didn't need a genius IQ for that assumption. 


	3. Denny's Is Named for a God of Chaos and Revelry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this fic Amadeus is trans because radicles/hulknaps/plantpeens said so and he makes the rules.

Robbie's hands flexed nervously on the steering wheel at the proximity of  Amadeus and now his anxiety was through the roof. How was he even supposed to start talking to him? He knew that once Amadeus got started, he could carry the conversation for the both of them, but the silence in the car with Amadeus next to him was bearing down on him, so he swallowed the lump in his throat and started. "So... why did you think this is a date?" Oh, yeah, great way to start things off smooth. He should've taken those flirting tips from Lisa. 

From the corner of his eye, he could catch Amadeus looking very,  _very_ regretful. "It was a joke. I, you know, didn't mean to say that you're... gay." There was some vague hand gesture accompanying the word that he didn't quite catch.

Color drained from Robbie's face as he felt his heart racing faster.  _Oh._ Well, just great. Of all the things he thought he'd signed up for when he asked Amadeus to hang out. "Well, I mean, I am. Gay, I mean. I just don't really tell people because when you work where I do, and when you have custody of a kid that's not biologically _yours_... things go sideways real fast."

And that look on Amadeus' face just got worse. "I mean, why didn't you  _tell_ me you're gay?"

Robbie chuckled a little at that. "Oh yeah? When was I supposed to tell you that? When we were fighting the giant purple monster or when you showed up at my all-male workplace?" He sobered a little. "I just, I've only come out to one other person, this girl I was dating until I realized I wasn't bi. We're still close, but it's just weird going from 'boyfriend' to 'gay best friend'."

"Wait... so this actually  _was_ supposed to be a date? I thought I was just joking."

Robbie grimaced a little. "I mean... yeah? It doesn't have to be, I don't know if you're even into guys, and I thought it might just even be nice to hang out with you and get to know you better." Oh, God, now  _he_ was babbling. Amadeus was fucking contagious. 

"I am. I'm bi." Amadeus smiled. "I actually would've been happy to go out on a date if you would've just said that outright. You're pretty hot. Hot, like, metaphorically hot. Like, you're really attractive. Not, you know," hands went to his head in a vague gesture indicating the flames around his skull as the Ghost Rider. "I mean, obviously you're hot like that, too, but I like the metaphorically hot part of you better."

"Do you mind if we make this a date?" Robbie's eyes slid over to Amadeus in the passenger's seat carefully. 

"Didn't you hear the part where I just called you super hot? Yeah. Are we switching the plan then, or..." 

Robbie couldn't really talk without letting the giddy excitement slip out, so he only nodded. "How's dinner sound? No pressure, nothing big, probably just, you know, a Denny's."

"Seeing as I need to eat 20,000 calories a day... Denny's sounds great. I wouldn't be mad about bottomless pancakes." 

 

* * *

 

The rest of the ride went smoothly until they ended up at a Denny's out of county. Robbie didn't really want a lot of noise around. As they were seated at the table for two, Robbie gave a cursory glance at the menu, deciding on the pancakes on the value menu and bottomless coffee. After all, he practically ran on the stuff, even if he hated the taste.

"So, I know this probably isn't first date friendly talk, but... why didn't you want to help us?"

"Well, I just try not to get involved in the whole superhero community thing. It's a lot of drama, and I kind of figured that, you know, a Hulk and a Wolverine can handle everything on their own, plus I was dealing with my own shit at work. It just kind of put me off of you guys that you were ready to out me as La Leyenda."

The food arrived and Robbie started pouring syrup on his pancakes. "So, what about you? Why are you staying in LA and not, I don't know, New York, or wherever you're from?"

"Things with my sister and I have been pretty tense, so I wanted to give her time to herself, and pretty much every other young superhero in New York is in the middle of a massive falling out with the Avengers. Ms. Marvel actually contacted me about forming her own team of younger heroes, so after I've found out what I can about this alien-thing, that's probably where I'm going."

Robbie perked to attention. "Ms. Marvel? The cool one from Jersey? My brother and I are pretty huge fans of hers. We popped up at about the same time, so the comparisons were a bit inevitable." In Robbie's opinion, Ms. Marvel was far more impressive than him. 

"Yeah, she said something about maybe calling the team 'Champions'. Hey, wasn't the old Ghost Rider on the team?"

Hearing someone refer to Johnny as the 'old ghost rider' was a little jarring. It wasn't like he wasn't active anymore. "Johnny was, yeah. He's still in contact with all the original members, I think. I'm sure he'd think it'd be hilarious that I'm dating a Champion."

"Oh, so you think I'm good enough to date again?" Amadeus said with a flirting smile as another plate of pancakes was placed in front of him.

"You know what, I think you are." Robbie smiled back to reach across the booth to hold hands briefly. 

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the date was standard first-date fare, small talk, polite questions about each other's lives, until the waitress put the check in front of Amadeus, prompting a snicker from Robbie. As she walked away, Robbie nudged Amadeus. "She thinks you're the top." It was a little immature and childish, but he let himself have this as he picked up the check and left a generous tip as an apology to the waitress and the poor kitchen staff who had to keep making him pancakes.

"God, I hope not."

Conversation was flowing much easier on the way back, talking about siblings, and mentors, and how embarrassing mentors can get, until they were back at the SHIELD bunker. "I had fun tonight," Amadeus said as he unbuckled. "Do you want to... come back inside with me and see if that waitress was accurate?"

Robbie could thank whatever deity that didn't have a personal grudge against him that Lisa had agreed to stay the night to take care of Gabe.


	4. Morning After

Robbie wasn't used to being able to sleep in. Usually, he'd be up at 5 to start getting Gabe ready for the school's early morning program for children of working parents or students. But this morning? His arms flexed around the slightly smaller figure in his bed, who was showing no signs of getting up yet, which... yeah. They were both exhausted after the night prior. He kissed Amadeus' shoulder before getting dressed and making his way to the kitchen they passed through last night to start some coffee and... not pancakes. They'd eaten enough pancakes. Dinner for breakfast, maybe? Pizza? Well, there was canned biscuit dough, marinara sauce, and some cheese in the fridge. Close enough.

Apparently the loss of his big spoon had urged Amadeus from his sleep in a delayed reaction, because while the crust was almost done cooking, a familiar shape made its way down the hall, rubbing his eyes tiredly with a small smile. "Hey. Thought you'd left." Huh. Tired actually managed to make him a little quiet.

Robbie shook his head. "Nah. Just hungry. Figured we had breakfast for dinner last night, so why not dinner for breakfast?" he filled a cup of coffee for Amadeus and passed it to him. "I had a lot of fun last night."

Amadeus made a bit of a face. "About last night--sorry I didn't tell you. It really slipped my mind."

"It's no issue. I'm gay because I like guys, not because I only like dick." Robbie turned around and kissed him. "I'd like to go out again. When are you leaving for New York to meet your new team?"

"I don't know. I'd kind of like to stay a little longer to see what this is, though, because at a first look, I like what I see." Amadeus leaned against the counter next to Robbie, though he tilted his head as if he'd seen something. "Did you... steal some of my hair gel?"

Whoops. Busted. "Come on! I have an undercut! I look weird if I don't have anything in my hair."

He smirked and laughed a little, but made an effort at looking hurt and scandalized. "You only stayed the night for my grooming products! The betrayal!"

"I'm paying you back with food!" Robbie defended, though both knew the whole thing was a joke. Just then, though, the timer on the oven went off and he finished putting the pizza together and put it back in for the cheese to melt. 

"So, are you gonna tell Gabe?"

"What, about you? Yeah. I'd like for you to meet him. We're a package deal, you know, so it's really important to know going forward, if you're good with him or not. Does Wednesday work? I take that day off of work to get Gabe to the comic shop." It was how Robbie always referred to himself and Gabe. Even the PTA moms knew that it was a cold day in hell when Robbie wouldn't show up for a student function that Gabe would be attending. Not only was Robbie the trigger for any kind of mental, social, or emotional development on Gabe's part, but it seemed to Robbie that when they were separated or fighting, awful things happened. No matter how much he liked Amadeus, if Gabe couldn't get along with him... that was one thing he  _couldn't_ compromise with himself on. Gabe was his responsibility, his best friend, the only constant in his life. 

"Seeing as this is my vacation, yeah, Wednesday works. Do you want me to bring anything? Does he have any favorite superheroes or comics?"

"I don't want you to buy your way into his good graces with presents. You just have to settle for being constantly disarmingly charming and handsome."

"What, you really think I'm handsome?" Amadeus grinned and flexed a muscle, though in his human form, it wasn't nearly as impressive.

The oven dinged as the timer went off and Robbie took out the pizza. "Don't ruin it, hot stuff."


	5. Day Off

"Do I look alright?" Amadeus fidgeted with the button-down he was wearing over the one pair of jeans he had bothered to wash which he insisted to Robbie that hadn't literally just come out of the dryer as he pulled up to pick him up, with Gabe in the back seat waiting for them.

"You look great, alright? There's  _no worries_. He's gonna love you and I already came out to him." It was a long talk. Gabe may be advancing at a rate he hadn't been previously, but he was still a young kid, a developmentally disabled one at that, and didn't entirely grasp the concept of attraction yet. All he had understood was the normal vague negativity in culture, especially around Robbie, and the teachers trying desperately to counteract that kind of negativity. But, he was getting the hang of it. Robbie liked boys like most boys liked girls, and it's normal, even if some people say different. It was really just an introduction to make sure Gabe knew that liking boys was okay, so he didn't bother with saying some boys liked boys and girls, and people that weren't either, or maybe some boys didn't like either at all. He didn't tell Gabe Amadeus was trans, either. He figured it's Amadeus' story to tell, and for them to bond over. Being boys that weren't exactly like other boys because they weren't born as boys. "We're gonna get ice cream at the truck we usually get it at and then make a stop at the comic shop for Gabe to pick up his solicits. Then I'm going to make dinner for us while Gabe gets one hour of X-Box, only played locally, and if he swears it gets turned off. We have a good routine, and you'll fit into things perfectly." Robbie straightened up his collar, though it was already fine. "We help him with homework after dinner, then I'll give him a bath and tuck him in." Their rooms were right next to each other, and the walls were thin, so he hoped the implication was clear enough. "I'll give you a ride back and I'll talk to Gabe about how he liked you in the morning."

"You really have everything down to a science, don't you?"

"Routines are really good for him. Come on. We don't want to keep the ice cream monster waiting."

* * *

 Things started off great. Gabe got a scoop of strawberry and Robbie got chocolate, and, Amadeus being Amadeus, got a large 5-scoop sundae. Which obviously impressed Gabe with how he was able to tuck away the whole thing so quickly. Hulk metabolism combined with genius metabolism, he figured. He was able to tuck away food like that on their first date, too, and he heard somewhere that the brain was the organ that required the most calories.

"Woooow! How can you eat all that?!"

"Because I ate all my vegetables and it gave me the stomach room to eat all this ice cream."

"I don't think it works like that."

"Are you sure? I think you should eat all your veggies at dinner just in case." 

"Robbie!" he called from the back, in the accusatory tone that clearly meant 'call this nonsense out'.

"Amadeus is right," Robbie said, looking in the rearview. "He did all his homework and ate all his veggies so now his body needs a lot of food."

"Then I want Amadeus' homework!"

"Tell you what, he can help you with math tonight, alright?" Robbie was good at math, yes, but at the same time, he wasn't super-genius-Amadeus-Cho good at math. He was more 'volunteer tutor at community college' good at math. He parked in the wheelchair-accessible parking spot of the lot in the block and got his chair out of the trunk while he watched Gabe interact with Amadeus. He was telling a story of some kind to keep Gabe busy while he got the chair over to him. "I hope you're not coming out of the phone booth with him," he said quietly.

"No, I was just telling him about me and Maddy as kids." 

"Alright." He opened Gabe's door and helped him into the wheelchair and adjusted his legs. Robbie usually had to go in with Gabe to pick up some of his solicits which were rated for violence, like Grouper Toad. He wasn't really a fan of letting Gabe read things like that, but he knew not to treat the violence in the books like a real thing, or a good thing. Robbie handed the money to the owner to pay for everything while a few kids in the back were watching Ammy, enamored, as he picked up a few snippets of sentences, talking about Hercules. It was the story he told on their first date, about getting into the superhero game because of how he stubbornly hung around Herc like a lost puppy when he was sixteen.

It was a little weird, he admitted to himself. Robbie became a hero because he didn't really have a choice. It was something Amadeus sought for himself. Really, he couldn't imagine why someone would  _want_ this life, but life as the "Totally Awesome" Hulk was probably a lot less exhausting than life as LA's one superhero stuck with taking care of whatever threats, human or magical, made their way into his life. He probably didn't even know how to date a normal person, and for Robbie, 'normal' flew out the window the night he died. Eventually, Robbie's signaling made his way through to Amadeus and they packed up the car to go home.

* * *

Cooking dinner went without incident. Amadeus helped Gabe with his homework on the table while Robbie made a double batch of sloppy joes, hoping that it'd be enough to hold over his appetite. The homework was done faster than usual this time, partly because there wasn't as much as usual for some reason, partly because Amadeus was probably a better tutor to young kids than Robbie, and he tried not to feel too jealous. After all, Robbie was never much good at fraction division anyway. The rest of the interim was spent in discussion, and he tried not to eavesdrop, but it was hard not to when Gabe got as easily excited as he does. It was heartwarming, really, to hear them connect on the level they did, for Amadeus to tell Gabe how much things change once he's allowed to start testosterone when he's sixteen. Things were looking up, in a solid way.

Dinner talk was different, though. Talking about Maddy more and how they got to go around the country on a "Stark Fund" conducting research. It was a lie, sure. But it was a harmless one, and one that kept Gabe away from his obsession with superheroes, if only temporarily. 

Gabe opted for the Wii over the X-Box, so all three could play Mario Kart for the remaining hour until bedtime. Robbie situated himself between the two, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the couch while both of them stuck their tongue out in the same way that he hadn't noticed until Amadeus had pointed it out. Robbie let Gabe win a couple of times, but he wouldn't let Amadeus win  _over his dead body_. No matter how much fight he put up, Robbie was too prideful to let his record as racing badass be marred even by a blue shell.

Eventually, though, the night had to end, and Gabe was reluctant to let Amadeus go after the fun they'd had all day, insisting he "wasn't tired" through yawns. With Gabe tucked in, Robbie drove him back out to the bunker, and kissed him at the door. "I feel good about this."

"So do I. You know... our night doesn't have to end here." There was a quiet pleading in his voice. 

"Ammy... you know it does," he whispered. "I'm not going to just leave you in the middle of the night to take care of Gabe." 

"I know, but..." he sighed, defeated. "You're a really good big spoon."

"Just a motivation for  you to come back for more," he replied cheekily.


End file.
